Redbelt - quick review

David Mamet writes and directs "Redbelt", a story about Mike Terry, who runs a jiu-jitsu training spot, and happens to save an actor from a bar beatdown, and finds his whole life turned upsidedown in ways he could have never forseen. Chiwetel Ejiofor anchors "Redbelt" with steady grace as Mike, who is honorable in his outlook with martial arts when it comes to prize-fighting (having eschewed it for his entire life), but faces such an predicament as financial times hit him hard.

Give it to Mamet to turn even this sort of story into a film with good solid dialogue and criss-crossing motives from almost everyone in the story, producing twists and turns that confuse Mike and keep the audience guessing as to how it will all unfold. The cast is solid, Mamet fans will enjoy seeing appearances from his stable of actors from Mamet's previous films and TV efforts.

Saw it last night, but after sleeping on it, I give the films 3 stars, or a grade of B.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

This opened a week ago in NYC after playing the Tribeca Film Festival.

Ejiofor has been a compelling supporting presence in a variety of films, from Serenity to Inside Man to Four Brothers. Here, though, he takes on a truly demanding lead, both physically and verbally, and he delivers on all fronts.

Don't make the mistake of going into this film looking for a con. There are crooks all around, but this isn't one of Mamet's films about deception. It's a film about honor, and at a certain point you'll probably see the end coming -- and still enjoy it when it arrives.

Mamet has always had gift for casting against type. He did it with Steve Marin in The Spanish Prisoner, and here he does it with Tim Allen as the sleazy actor that Mike Terry saves in a bar fight. There isn't a hint of comedy in Allen's portrayal. He's scarily convincing as a creep.

The film has a lot of first-timers to the Mamet world, including Emily Mortimer as an attorney with a substance abuse problem and Alice Braga (from I Am Legend) as Terry's wife. Look for Mamet regulars Joe Mantegna, Ricky Jay, Vincent Guastaferro and, of course, Rebecca Pidgeon. Fans of the The Unit will immediately spot Max Martini ("Mack") in a major role, and fans of The Shield will spot Cathy Cahlin Ryan (wife of Shield creator and Unit co-creator Shawn) in a small but memorable one.

M.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

I agree with the above to a point. As an MMA fan, I was very disappointed in the actual fighting. For me, the climax lost some steam because of it. But looking past that, the film is pretty good and worth a look if you're a fan Mamet or the actors named above. There are some great scenes in this film and it's well-acted throughout.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

I saw Red Belt tonight; my first Mamet experience. The story veers in unexpected directions. Mike Terry is an interesting character and well portrayed throughout.

But the story is made willfully cryptic: complexities are made difficult to understand. And Mike's principled stance grows tedious as it quickly feels both naive and self-destructive -- but that complexity is also part of the films appeal. Perhaps a Mamet thing, but several characters all spoke in identical, artificial machine-gun stocattos that became tiresome, pushing me out of important emotional moments. Finally, I wish the ending had been less vague.

So the movie has weaknesses. But it's interesting, a meandering, surprising story with sorrow, betrayal, and pain. It showed me a bit of competitive fighting, with which I'm wholly unfamiliar. And it illuminates the value and loss from keeping one's principles.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

Definitely a Mamet trademark. As a Mamet fan, this one wasn't one of my favorites -- if it peaked your interest in his work, though, I'd recommend "House of Games" and "The Spanish Prisoner".

Chiwetel Ejiofor is definitely a great actor, though I can't help but flash to his "Kinky Boots" role when I see him.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

As Elisabeth says, that's something of a Mamet trademark, but not as much as people think. He has whole films where no one talks like that (State and Main, for example). But there's a certain disreputable type of character who routinely pops up in Mamet's world, and they always talk that way. I don't find it more (or less) artificial than any other movie dialogue; it's just a different approach.

M.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

why do you think the ending was vague?

i really enjoyed this movie. it really held my interest. and as far as i am concerned really didn't focus on the fighting aspect of the movie as much as the betrayals and twists in the movie.

after seeing iron man and speed racer in recent weeks this was a nice diversion before i get into the remainder of the summer ''blockbusters.''

Re: Redbelt - quick review

I may have to wait on this one. I can only take so much Mamet and mistakenly (and unknowingly) watched two of his efforts back to back only about a week ago. First, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, which I just forgot was Mamet. Then Edmond, which kept reminding me of Mamet, only to discover he wrote it. That makes for an evening of feel good movie watching.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

Mamet had no involvement with Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Kelly Masterson).

Re: Redbelt - quick review

Warning Spoiler! Click to show

Re: Redbelt - quick review

SPOILERS GALORE!!!

dave:


Warning Spoiler! Click to show

Re: Redbelt - quick review

Dave, your reaction has prompted me to think further about Redbelt, and I've ended up liking it even better. (Warning: Some of what I'm going to say may be deemed spoiler-ish.)

In comic book and fantasy films, characters act on honor and principle all the time, and no one worries too much about the kind of practical questions you've raised. They just cheer. Why should this be any different? I guess because this feels more like real life -- and I think that's exactly what Mamet was going for.

Mike Terry doesn't know what's going to happen next either, but he can't be true to himself by doing any different than what he ultimately does. The film is structured in such a way that it invites you to cheer for what Mike does, but then leaves you wondering about it afterward. Now, Diallo has offered a plausible scenario for what might happen after the final scene, and I could offer another, and no doubt so could many other viewers. But no one really knows. For at least one moment, the guys who like to control the outcome have completely lost control to a random element: Mike Terry's personal sense of honor.

To me, that's the story. The rest is kind of like the wreckage of Gotham City at the end of Batman Begins -- it'll get cleaned up somehow.

M.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

Michael,
Your view of the movie and character is interesting, helpful. What I find frustrating with the film -- what gets under my skin about it -- is what I interpret as the foolishly naive aspects of Mike Terry. And that I don't know if these are intentional shadings of the character, or mis-steps in the film, or simply my own misunderstanding.

Specifically -- and to stop worrying about spoilers -- his police buddy says he covered up the gun firing in the dojo to protect its honor and protect the woman. Mike Terry repeats that, viewing his friend with respect. My
view was the policeman was protecting himself -- what fool of a cop leaves his gun out in the open, loaded, and unlocked where a stranger can fire it? And why was Mike -- a trained fighter who clearly is knows the importance of situational awareness -- practice fighting with the cop, with the gun unattended.

This aspect continues. His clear allegiance to his ethics, while willfully remaining ignorant of his finances. Placing his principle of not competing above his marriage. Placing his desire to get back his three-stones concept to the detriment of his police friend.

By the end, there was a sense that Terry was very self-centered, and had experienced no personal growth himself.

In the end, he is so focused on his egocentric pursuit of his fighting ethics, he is willing to severely hurt the security staff of the show to be able to denounce the whole affair.

Seriously, call a press conference the next day. No need to maim the poor guys working for ten bucks an hour to assuage your ego over proper Brazilian fighting.

These complexities should make for a more interesting story. But I see them in the story, but not really handled by the story, and that is frustrating to me.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

Spoilered, since I'm putting it right at the top.


Warning Spoiler! Click to show
For all the mystique attached to Mamet, he's very much an entertainer who's a master craftsman thoroughly familiar with popular genres. If you strip away the exceptionaly rich details of place and person from Redbelt, you find the bones of a classic lone hero myth -- virtually identical to the one that underpins many comic book superheroes.

M.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

I won't argue with your counterpoints; you're quite right. This movie was smart enough for me to believe Mike Terry is supposed to be a flawed hero. Yet it was sloppy enough in its plotting to make wonder if the character complexities were actually sloppy writing, and not intentional. And having not seen Mamet before I just don't know.

I really like Tim Allen's turn as the burnt-out movie star. Allen gave a good performance, succeeding in the character, and feeling like a big name slumming it for indie creds.

Mike Terry was also engaging.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

You've probably seen more than you realize. The Untouchables? The Verdict (one of Paul Newman's best performances)? Wag the Dog (Barry Levinson directed; De Niro and Dustin Hoffman starred)? Ronin (De Niro again)? The Edge (Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin)?

All Mamet scripts. He also adapted Hannibal for Ridley Scott's film and substantially rewrote his own play Glengarry Glen Ross for James Foley's film.

And that's before we get to his work as a director, playwright and occasional actor.

M.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

Of those, I've only seen The Edge; I've never seen his plays.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

Yeah, you're right. Don't know what I was thinking.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

Then you've missed some good films that you might want to visit in the future.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

No deisagreement there. The Untouchables is on the list of films I should see but never get to.

So it goes. Hundreds of films each year, and between time, money, and the fancy of the evening, only a small few get seen.

What was fun about RedBelt was that it was my wife's idea to see it. I hadn't even heard of, knew nothing of it. So it was the rare moment of seeing a movie wholly ignorant of it -- no expectations. The last time that happened might have been ten years ago, when I saw As Good As It Gets with a friend, just on a whim.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

If nothing else, you should see it for Sean Connery's Oscar-winning performance as Chicago cop Jimmy Malone. Connery has never been better. I've seen the film dozens of times, and the character gets more interesting every time I see it. And I don't think it's a stretch to say that Malone is a distant cousin to Mike Terry.

M.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

Bringing this back to the top just to note that the Blu-ray of this film is an excellent presentation, and the film holds up well on a repeat viewing.

There's a Q&A with Mamet (I don't know if it's also on the standard DVD) that looks like it was done at a film festival. He has some interesting comments on some of the key issues discussed in this thread. Well worth checking out.

M.

Re: Redbelt - quick review

Just caught this last night and definitely agree with the Blu Ray presentation. Looked great. Also, I really enjoyed this movie, I'd give it a perfect five stars. Elegant, simple and catches the mood of the dojo (or kwoon if you will) and the attitude of fighters (both good and bad). This is especially true when he promotes the officer over his objections and he protests that he isn't ready, but Terry tells him he was overdue. Perfect!